1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for managing domains, and more particularly, to a consumer-oriented method and a consumer-oriented apparatus for managing domains constituting a set of home apparatuses capable of playing and sharing content.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, the demands of consumers for the convenient sharing of content among various home devices have increased, reflecting a trend that various home devices for broadcasting, music, and games have emerged. In response to these demands, research into consumer-oriented home network domains which enable users to connect the devices and to share the content of the devices has been actively conducted.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional method of sharing content in a home network. Referring to FIG. 1, a content provider (CP) or a rights issuer (RI) provides content or a license for the content. A user 5 can obtain and use the content after registering user information to the CP or RI 6. In order to set domains, devices 1, 2, 3, and 4, and the user 5, should connect and register through the Internet or communication lines to the CP 6 or RI 6 that have a function of managing domains, and receive domain information and information required to share the content in the domains. Here, domains are a set of devices of which content is shared, and the domains are set and managed by the CP 6 or the RI 6 connectable through the Internet.
In other words, the devices to be used by the user 5, together with the user 5, should be registered to the CP 6 or the RI 6 through the Internet and receive the information required to share the content. After this registration process, it is possible to share the content among the registered devices.
However, in this method, the content provider or rights issuer such as the CP 6 or the RI 6 having a function of managing domains should be connected with the user 5 and the devices 1, 2, 3, and 4 through the Internet, that is an external network, other than an internal home network. In other words, an Internet connection is required to update domain related data and security data for content sharing, security, and other management.
Accordingly, the conventional method described above in which all of the devices should be connected to an external network through the Internet for sharing content is inefficient and inconvenient in terms of user convenience. In addition, managing information for each user and a domain for each user is a considerable burden on the CP 6 or the RI 6 on the Internet.